Throughout the remainder of predominantly online learning, Long Beach City College should allow students to withdraw from courses without penalty through the end of the semester.
The “EW” does not count towards academic progress probation and does not count as a repeated class.
During the spring semester, Long Beach City College extended the deadline to withdraw from courses, however, this was not offered for the fall semester.
Allowing students to withdraw without penalty throughout the semester extends empathy to students who are experiencing sometimes unsurmountable hardships due to the pandemic.
School is even more challenging now, and while education is of course important, it can’t always be a top priority for students, especially in a pandemic that continues to worsen.
Some students are experiencing job loss, and some are experiencing the stress and increased hours of being an essential worker. Students have had to care for sick relatives, or even gotten COVID-19 themselves. Some students have to manage online classes while sharing an apartment with their entire family, who are also struggling to work and do school from home in a shared space.
Maintaining the same academic expectations as if times are normal, when circumstances are highly abnormal does more harm than good for struggling students.
It is also substantially more difficult for students to get the academic help they need, as tutoring and other resources are all remote and could be inaccessible to students already struggling with remote learning.
If the pandemic has taught us anything, it is that things are unpredictable, and especially now, situations could arise at any point in the semester that make it difficult or impossible to successfully complete a course.
For some students, they may not even be aware of their grade until late in the semester of online learning, as many professors do not regularly update Canvas grades.
As many schools are already experiencing drops in enrollment, providing students with the safety net of an extended excuse withdrawal date would support retention efforts through lowering the risk for students to enroll.
Community colleges are meant to provide academic flexibility to students, and if students are unable to complete their online learning courses throughout the pandemic, they deserve the opportunity to not have their academic records negatively impacted.
In an immensely challenging year, Long Beach City College students deserve this support.